1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electronic data processing in general and specifically to a computer system, a computer program product and a computer-implemented method for monitoring components of a fluid-carrying, cascading production system.
2. Description of Related Art
Sensors for monitoring specific parameters are used after each production step and cleaning step in fluid-carrying, cascading production systems, such as water-processing systems for dialysis. For each sensor-monitored component of the production system, these sensors supply measured data that can be used to determine the operating status of the respective components. One example of such a specific parameter is the pressure difference between the input pressure of a specific component and the output pressure of that specific component. For example, when the sand filter is filled with cleaned sand, this pressure difference is different from that when the sand filter is contaminated with particles washed into it. An inference about the operating status of the respective component can thus be drawn from the specific parameter (e.g., pressure difference). In the case of monitoring of the specific parameters for the individual components of the cascading production system, it is possible to monitor the functionality of the production system remotely and optionally to plan and prepare for service or repair jobs. Such complex monitoring systems generally use two sensors per component, where the first sensor measures the input value of the specific parameter and the second sensor measures the output value of the parameter for the respective component. A great many sensors are thus required for cascading production systems, thus resulting in a great system complexity and also a large volume of measured data.